How should I tell my psychologist that I won't allow him to

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Assuming that you live in the United States, psychologists don't have the authority to prescribe medications as it is (in most states, anyway).

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The question is Are you depressed?, if you are depressed then there is nothing wrong with his logic. If he is unwilling to explore non-drug avenues to deal with your depression, then more than likely he is unable to, or is not confident in doing so. You may need to find another psychologist.

Basically, unless you are sectioned under the mental health act [and you would know if you were] you have the right to self determination - the right to choose whatever happens to your body [and that is absolute [excluding being sectioned] if you are over a certain age, think it is 16 in UK

so if you are over 16 then you can say no medication - and you can tell your psychologist that you wouldnt take medication as it stands even if prescribed or if he gave you them.

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If you are seriously depressed, are suicidal or hurting yourself then the case for antidepressants becomes a lot stronger

Im no expert on mental health - but with any medication there are side effects and knowing whether to correctly prescribe a medication is based on a determination of the benefits and risks, making sure the benefits at least balance the risks [but preferably outweight them].

and any decision to start a medication should be an informed choice [unless to save your life eg if you are in a coma or put under] and any choice by someone else to start you on a medicine should be reasonable.

If you were going to start a medicine, or were agreeable to it relevant questions would be

what diagnosis do I have [and how do you come to such a conclusion - what symptoms have I got

what drug treatment do you want to start, what are the likely side effects and is there anything I should be aware of [eg some medicines do things like colour the body fluids [cant think of any which do that in mental health situation]

is this treatment licensed or unlicensed

and if unlicensed why arent you using a licensed medical treatment - are there any and what benefits will this give [Psychologists can use medicines which are unlicensed or off-label because experienced ones are experts in using them but they have to be careful

and who do I contact if I have any problems.

[I think all of this allows you to make an informed choice more readily] An option might be to take St Johns Wort tablets yourself, letting your psychologist know and first of all speaking to your GP to let them know, asking if there is any reason you shouldnt take them [they interact with a number of drugs such as but not restricted to the contraceptive pill], I have heard St Johns Wort isnt the best thing to take if you have a heart condition.

Avoid taking St Johns Wort if you are already on an antidepressant as the combination may cause the potentially dangerous serotonin syndrome - though this is rare

mercola.com is an excellent source of information on many aspects of health

try typing "dr mercola antidepressants" without the quotes into Google to come up with a wealth of information

this man is a licensed Dr in USA and he choose to give up a long career in private practice to start his blog.

Make very clear that you want cognative therapy. If you are interested do a search on arron beck. It is a well established approach that is predicated on the notion that u learned how to be depressed and u can also learn how not to be depressed. Particularly for a person on the spectum an approach that is geared towards the individual needs of the person being treated will do far more than just throwing drugs at the problem



I will also just quietly mention that skipping a night of sleep is quite effective in getting yourself out of a deep depression.